[Peace-discuss] Fw: [socialistdiscussion] A minor flap in the Obama administration

[unionyes]

Another analysis of the Charles Freeman incident.

David J.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: John Reimann 
To: socialist discussion 
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 7:26 PM
Subject: [socialistdiscussion] A minor flap in the Obama administration


Probably few on this list have been paying attention to Obama's
attempted appointment of Charles Freeman to head the National
Intelligence Council. This is not exactly a high profile post nor is
it policy setting, but this appointment set off quite a flap in
Washington. Freeman, a long time career diplomat, served as Nixon's
interpreter in China as well as the US ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He
is certainly no radical, having said that what China did wrong in the
Tienanmen massacre was to wait too long to suppress the protests. He
is, however, an advocate of "realpolitik" and a definite pragmatist.
As such, he has been harshly critical of the US invasion of Iraq as
well as critical of much of Israel's policies, especially its
settlement expansion. It is this last that set off a flap in
Washington when Freeman's appointment came up for discussion. With
several important Senators leading the way, Freeman was labeled as an
"Israel hater". He was forced to withdraw, almost certainly at Obama's
suggestion.

This should be coupled with Hillary Clinton's recent trip to the mid
East where she made extremely muted criticisms of Israeli settlement
expansion as well as of Jerusalem mayor's plans to tear down close to
100 Palestinian homes. This should be taken in the context of the
position of the new israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu, who has
directly stated that he opposes the idea of an independent state for
the Palestinians.. In other words, he is taking an even more
aggressive line on the issue. Clinton and Netanyahu emerged from a
private discussion all smiles, a sign that there did not seem to be
any major conflicts between the two On top of this is the near
certainty that Avigdor Lieberman will be hold the position equivalent
to Clinton and will have final say on several other cabinet
appointments. Lieberman is an open racist.

There may be other "changes" in Obama's policies, but in relation to
Israel it does not seem to be in the cards for the moment.

John

-- 
Check out:
http://www.iww.org/en/blog/1411

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